Ship Wrecks, Hunting Cats, and Monsoons in Iowa.

I'm not sure what made me remember this, but a couple of weeks ago, something triggered a memory I had about a trivial story I "somehow" knew.   Who really knows how trivia manages to manifest itself?   The same story pushed its way back to the front of my mind today, following a different trigger.   And so I decided that that would make a good blog post.

It is about a ship wreck called the Diamond Knot, a freight hauler coming from Alaska with a hold full of canned fish.  On Aug 13, 1947,  it  was struck by another ship and in heavy fog.   The two ships were locked together and they had to be cut apart by rescue vessels and towed back to port.  On the way, the Diamond Knot ran into trouble and sank.   Luckily, no one was injured during the event.

Recovery of the Cans of Fish!

And here is where the interesting part comes in...  The Ship was carrying 1/10 of the gross yearly catch of fish from Alaska.  The insurance company paid for the ship, but to help offset the loss,  the company used revolutionary techniques to recover the hold.  Basically, $22,000.00 in fish oil was recovered by pumping water into the holding cell. ( forcing the oil to rise into a hose to the surface.) and then they cut large holes in the side of the ship and vacuumed up the 5,700,000 cans of salmon from the cargo bay. The entire project recovered $2,100,000.00 worth of salvage!   The fact that the cargo was worth more than the ship and the fact that that amount of fish was worth recovering is what stuck with me.  (I believe those are 1947 numbers....think about inflation to today's prices!)  The shipwreck is still a popular diving place for recreational dives.

Now, the Diamond Knot is a brewing company with a historic story behind the name.  I can't really tell if they know about it, because their own web page is missing the "about our history" section.  I'm sure an employee will make something eventually.

Mid Day Rain! 

In addition to the haunting trivia that "must be blogged about",   Cheryl and I have been running and biking.   The weather had been pleasant...until the beginning of this week.   The heat and humidity has returned, keeping our distance and times fairly short.

This happened at 1:45 today!

Kind of heavy....

"Sheets" of rain on the neighbor's roof!

Today,  the temps are supposed to drop, and along with that, came the rain.   It had been looming all day, but right as we finally arrived home,  it began!  The rain was coming down so hard and fast ( and sideways!) that it looks like there is a fog outside.   I tried to capture the "sheets" of rain hitting the driveway and house across from us, but the fog and mist seemed to interfere.  Luckily,  it did not last long and things are "almost" back to normal.  The clouds are still pretty dark, but at least the temps are down a bit.   Hopefully it will dry up a bit before tomorrow.  We shall see.

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful Wednesday.   Nothing like having the work week half over!  Unless you don't have a job, that is.   Some of us are just lucky that way, I guess.   Thanks for stopping in!